Raphael
Raphael or Raph by his brothers—is a skilled mutant turtle ninja warrior, born as a regular freshwater turtle and raised in the sewers of New York City along with his three mutant brothers; Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and their mutated rat sensei, Splinter, whom they call their father. He is the second eldest of his brothers with Leonardo being the first. Personality Always acting before he thinks things through, Raphael is the muscle of the team. He is sarcastic, tough, and at times, mean; but he is known to have a soft side when caring for his pet turtle. It is also shown that he loves his brothers very much, and shows his nurturing side at times, mostly to Michelangelo, as Michelangelo is the youngest. However, he often feels that his family doesn't understand him so he doesn't usually open up to them. As seen in New Girl in Town, Leonardo and Raphael begin to argue. When this happens, Leonardo decides that Raphael should lead the team, if he can do better, to which Raphael agrees. During this, they battled Snakeweed, and Mikey ended up injured. Raphael said he 'froze up seeing Michelangelo like that'. He told Splinter he needs Leonardo. He also said, "I don't mind risking my own life, but risking my brothers'..." This shows us how much he cares about his brothers. As far as humour goes, Raphael (like most of his incarnations) is very cynical and sarcastic, sometimes making jokes at the others' expense, but usually just making 'witty remarks'. He also deadpans a lot - for example, when Donatello first sees April, and says "she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen" Raphael asks entirely seriously "isn't she the only girl you've ever seen?" Humour is generally when he is most amiable to his brothers too. For example; he will tease one, and another will usually agree or join in - these jokes are often at Michelangelo's expense, (but he rarely minds) or at Donatello's if April is mentioned (occasionally, Raphael and Michelangelo make kissing noises when Donatello mentions her). Powers and abilities Raphael is the strongest and toughest among his brothers, being able to take on much larger opponents quicker and more easily. If used correctly, his temper can boost up his strength and make him even stronger. Like his brothers, Raphael is stealthy, can hide in the shadows, sneak around without being detected, and use hand-to-hand combat, or Taijutsu. His exceptional skills in battle may be partially due to the fact that he does not mind risking himself in a fight (this is also shown by his appearance - his mask is very tattered and worn, and he has several chips and scratches on his shell and body), His selflessness most likely due to the fact that he may have a slight inferiority complex, and his fierce protectiveness of his brothers means he wil put himself in a line of fire to protect them. Raphael is also seen to be quite intelligent when he thinks clearly, and often takes the role of second-in-command. He has also demonstrated the ability to take control of, or influence animals (mainly pigeons) to help out. The extent of this ability has not yet been fully explored and it is unknown whether or not it will be shown again. It is also shown in Slash and Destroy that Raphael is able to use the famous Pressure Point technique which he uses to defeat Slash. As far as Raphael's flaws go, the biggest, and most obvious, is his temper. He starts to deal with his anger issues in Turtle Temper, after being told by Master Splinter that anger can be very destructive (via a story that explained why the Shredder killed Tang Shen). Throughout the rest of the series, he is slightly less impulsive; however he is still the most agressive of his brothers, and always becomes extremely angry when one or more of his brothers are hurt. He is less vicious to his brothers after this, but still hits them when they are being annoying. Equipment During most of the series, Raphael wields twin Sai, with which, like his brothers and their chosen weapons, he is highly skilled. In Pulverizer Returns, Master Splinter says that the boys are relying too heavily on their own weapons and makes them swap. After this process, Raphael is left with Michelangelo's Nunchucks. His sai are given to Donatello. Despite their best efforts, none of them are particualrly sucessful (particulalry Donatello, who manages to prick himself with the sai) however, Raphael only hits himself twice with the nunchucks, meaning he is at least somewhat competant with them (mostly likely because they are of a smiliar design, ie: two, small handheld weapons). However, during a more difficult fight, the turtles are still uncooperative with their new weapons and swap back. When Splinter finds out, he confiscates all weapons, stating that anything can be useful. When he and his brothers are trying to save Timothy, Raphael uses two planks of wood, holding and fighting with them in a style similar to his sai. In The Gauntlet, he used a Yumi bow and like his other brothers wields Shurikens (thowing stars). In Booyaka-Showdown, Part 1, Raphael armed himself with Kama scythes, Shuriken, Kunai, Tonfa and Brass Knuckles. Biography While down in the sewers, Raphael beat Donatello and then he fought Leonardo, (who beat Michelangelo in a fight before) and then won the training tournament by throwing Leonardo with his Sai. However, when Splinter congratulated them, Raphael bragged about his win, which caused Splinter to hit a pressure point on his neck and forced him to compliment his brothers. The Turtles are later seen eating a dish Michelangelo prepared called "Algae and Worms." After the meal, Splinter relays the story of how they were transformed (which is fairly different from the other origin stories told in the other series). Fifteen years before the Rise of the Turtles, Part 1, the benevolent Hamato Yoshi purchased the four turtles. Yoshi came into contact with a rat and had to fight against a couple of Kraang. The aliens dropped their mutagen, causing the mutation of Yoshi and the Turtles. Yoshi raised the Turtles as his own children and continues to train them in ninjutsu. Splinter agrees after some begging to let the Turtles go to the surface. It is here that Raphael scares a Pizza delivery guy who speeds away on his motorcycle. The four of them, curious, open the box, and, after Michelangelo tries it, eat (and very much enjoy) the pizza. Raphael's character design was updated, giving him green eyes as well as a small, lightning shaped chip cut out of his plastron across his left shoulder. His shell shows distinct battle damage, and the tails of his mask are tattered and worn. On the new ninjaturtles.com, Raphael says that he usually uses his sai as a pair of pizza forks. Relationships Leonardo Raphael's only older brother. He and Leonardo tend to fight about who would be a better leader of the Turtles, but Leonardo always comes first, making Raphael jealous. They seem to fight the most out of all their brothers, but they still care about each other. The two are shown to trust each other more in the family as they are often discussing things privately away from the others such as Leonardo's relationship with Karai. Raphael often expresses annoyance at Leonardo's constant attempts at 'hero speak'. However, Raphael does gain some sort of respect for Leonardo after being the leader himself for a while, and finding it very difficult. Donatello Raphael's second-youngest brother. He fights with Donatello the least, in physical terms, but in verbal terms, he makes fun of Donatello's intelligence and his huge crush on April a great deal. As far as Raphael's treatment of his brothers goes, his behavious to Donatello is the closest he comes to full on bullying. However, like all his brothers, Raphael cares for Donatello deeply and is incredibly protective of him. Splinter Raphael's adoptive father. He tends to show a lot of stubbornness towards Splinter's advice, but he still listens to his sensei and trains well under him. He is almost certainly the most rebellious of Slpinter's sons, and Splinter's guidance is usually to show restraint or mercy in combat, as well as force and power. April O'Neil Raphael's first human friend. He and April don't interact that much. He got a little defensive when the Purple Dragons tried to mug her, but he also laughed at her when she was attacked by a giant pigeon. he was also impressed that she escaped Karai. He and April are good friends. Leatherhead Raphael never interacted with Leatherhead, but he did disagree with Michelangelo about befriending him. Appearances }} Trivia * Raphael is named for the famous Renaissance master, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. ** Raphael's name is Hebrew, meaning "God has Healed". Raphael is also the only brother to have a Hebrew name, whilst all three of his brothers' names are Itallian. He is the only turtle to not have an o'' sound at the end of his name. ** In Katakana, Raphael's name is spelled: ラファエル (''Rafaeru). ** Given the fact that he was adopted by Hamato Yoshi/Splinter, Raphael's full name would be "Hamato Raphael". * His mastery of Ninjutsu includes: Taijustu, Shurikenjustu, Kobudō, Kayajustu, Shinobi-iri, Boyaku, Sui-ren, Archery, and Intonjustu. * Raphael is the second oldest of his brothers; Leonardo, Donatello & Michelangelo. * Raphael has a bolt-shaped chip missing at the upper, left side of his plastron. His shell, and body in general are by far the most damaged of his brothers'. * His mask has the longest tails, and by far the most tattered. * Raphael is often called "meat-head" by Donatello. * In Cockroach Terminator, Raphael is (irrationally) revealed to have katsaridaphobia, (fear of cockroaches), and is terrified of Donatello's pet SpyRoach. The origins of his katsaridaphobia has yet to be explored, but apparently Raphael was able to keep it quiet, as his brothers never knew of his phobia until that episode. * It is revealed in Parasitica that Raphael gets nausea after seeing body parts from bugs. * Raphael had a pet turtle named Spike, who later turns into Slash. * Raphael is shown to care a lot about his youngest brother Michelangelo, as he didn't know what to do anymore when Michelangelo got hurt. * Raphael also cares about his other brothers as he said: "I don't mind risking my own life, but my brothers'..." * It is seen in New Girl in Town, when Raphael gets under so much pressure being the leader for a short time, that he froze up with anxiety. * Though he the is second oldest, Raphael is the third tallest/second shortest of the turtles. However, his stocky build often makes him seem shorter. * In the first season of the show he has three big rivals - Fishface, Spider Bytez and Spy - Roach. * Raphael is the second Turtle to hide completely in his shell as seen in The Good, The Bad and Casey Jones References Category:A to Z Category:Characters Category:Main characters Category:Mutants